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Game 35, Mariners at Rangers

Felix Day is going to suck eggs if we lose. With Bedard getting scratched for Saturday, we’re throwing Jakubauskas-Olson-Vargas at the Red Sox this weekend. Lose today, and you’re staring at a pretty good chance of being losers of six in a row when the Angels roll into town on Monday. The M’s have to win today. They have to. Felix vs an LHP – we couldn’t ask for a better matchup. We lose today, the season is basically over.

Wak gives us another Yuni-free day, which is a blessing. Hopefully Cedeno can play well enough to convince the staff that he should be at SS more often.

As far as the line-up goes, does anyone have an explanation for Rob Johnson hitting in front of Gutierrez? Death To Flying Things is hitting .273/.360/.591 against southpaws this year, and it’s not luck – he’s killing the ball against them. That’s a .951 OPS vs LHPs with a .211 batting average on balls in play. This isn’t some bloopers falling in. He’s struck out once in 22 plate appearances against them, and three of his six hits have gone for extra bases. He should be hitting 2nd, not 8th. Hitting him behind Johnson is just nutty.

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130 Responses to “Game 35, Mariners at Rangers”

jephdood on
May 14th, 2009 1:43 pm

Dude needs to go down to Tacoma for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to perfect an ASSORTMENT of pitches.. and focus on starting again. I don’t care what HE wants to do. It’s no longer his choice.

JerBear on
May 14th, 2009 1:44 pm

People, be kind to USSM. Hit the “submit comment” button once…

Also, I know we’re all pissed off at Morrow right now, but keep in mind this has way more to do with the previous regime that completely screwed up his development and left us with this crappy situation than Morrow’s actual talents.

Not that that helps anything… just gives you an alternative direction to channel your overflow of anger.

TomTuttle on
May 14th, 2009 1:50 pm

Sorry, my internet connection is just bad, that’s all.

msb on
May 14th, 2009 1:51 pm

What the bejeesus is Bill Haselman wittering about on the radio?

goodness knows. Apparently a real closer has an attitude and an intimidation factor and is downright wacky on the mound.

TomTuttle on
May 14th, 2009 1:52 pm

It just bugs me too much to think about the guys that could be on this team right now but aren’t because of either bad drafting or bad trades.

I want my World Series. 🙁

Slippery Elmer on
May 14th, 2009 1:55 pm

Is it time for them to pull the plug on the Morrow as closer experiment and let him get back to starting? That guy is just not made to be a closer.

joser on
May 14th, 2009 1:56 pm

If Lou or another hardass is managing this team, Morrow wouldâ€™ve been done after the Blalock home run.

And how much difference would that make, really? Lou would have one of his petulant little meltdowns, and all the people who like watching childish behavior would cheer along (hardass? I guess your average pre-school is full of hardasses). And then what? Who pitches the 9th? Aardsma? He’s a fastball pitcher with questionable control, just like Morrow. I’m not convinced a season of him closing would end up all that different. Remember, for all the walks he gave up, Morrow was 6 for 6 in save opportunities before last night. (And if Aardsma pitches the 9th, we probably get Batista in the 8th, which means we may never get to a save opportunity at all).

Lou couldn’t fix Tampa. What fixed Tampa was better players.

joser on
May 14th, 2009 2:00 pm

Is it time for them to pull the plug on the Morrow as closer experiment and let him get back to starting? That guy is just not made to be a closer.

As currently constituted, he’s not made to be a starter either. As a starter he couldn’t throw as hard, he couldn’t rely on his fastball as much, and all those walks would hurt even more. And apparently he’s not “comfortable” starting which — issues about his diabetes aside — may just mean he recognizes that he doesn’t have the arsenal of pitches that would get him through seven innings. Or it may mean that he’d be in full mental meltdown mode every inning whether he was giving up runs or not.

JerBear on
May 14th, 2009 2:10 pm

As a starter he couldnâ€™t throw as hard, he couldnâ€™t rely on his fastball as much,

Yes, but that’s a good thing. Do you remember all thos sick, sick breaking balls he threw in his near no-hitter against NY? Plus he was able to keep decent velocity on his fastball. I know that’s the Morrow we all want to see, and I think that’s the Morrow he could have become given enough time in the minors to develop as a starter.

TomTuttle on
May 14th, 2009 2:11 pm

And how much difference would that make, really?

You would’ve had a better chance to win the game, that’s what difference it would’ve made.

All Morrow is right now is the reincarnation of Bobby Ayala.

Until he shows us he can consistently get it done, why should the Mariners keep giving him chances?

This team isn’t 20 games out right now, they were only 3.5 out.

If this team still has a chance to win the division, doesn’t make sense to not let Morrow fail if it looks like disaster is imminent (which it was after Blalock homered) rather than “experiment” to see if he’s the “closer of the future”?

I would definitely agree with you that Tampa was fixed by better players which is how the Mariners will be fixed as well.

Nonetheless, you can only give a player so many chances to succeed and fail in this league and you can only put up with so much if you are still at a point in the season where you have a chance to win the division.

Hopefully this team will do the right thing and replace Morrow with someone else in the 9th inning next time, otherwise this summer will be a lot longer than it actually will be.

KaminaAyato on
May 14th, 2009 2:12 pm

(And if Aardsma pitches the 9th, we probably get Batista in the 8th, which means we may never get to a save opportunity at all).

You know, for all the knocks Batista gets, and deservedly so for the most part, he has been serviceable so far. A terribly high BABIP (0.360), a 50% GB rate, a 8.15 K/9 rate, and he’s cut down a walk on his BB/9 rate (okay, it’s still a shade over 5).

It’s going to be weird saying this, but I think I wouldn’t mind him being a setup man if it means that Morrow goes away to work on what he needs to work on – assuming that whatever’s wrong with him can be worked on.

seattleslew on
May 14th, 2009 2:12 pm

What in the world is Morrow doing in the majors?

Send him down and keep him there. The M’s have enough pitchers to handle right now.

By the way, Batista is a better option at closer than Morrow at the moment.

Okay, let’s not kid ourselves, this was a competitive team for a couple weeks. Let’s get real and start actually rebuilding. Trade Adrian and Erik for a solid foundation… preferably similar to the one that Bill Bavasi threw away, please.

Bill, you are a horrible businessman.

tmac9311 on
May 14th, 2009 2:13 pm

is it too early to hate brandon morrow?? God that was brutal. Something needs to change it the bullpen when Aardsma is your most reliable option.

Bye Bye division winning 2009 Mariners, we barely knew you.

alexD on
May 14th, 2009 2:14 pm

I think the problem is that Morrow doesn’t have the mental toughness to be a major league pitcher. You can’t have that kind of person as your closer – their memory just isn’t short enough. Aardsma may not be all that different from Morrow in the sense that he is a hard throwing, relatively inaccurate pitcher who depends on his fastball…but having a solid mental game could mean the difference between blown saves in the last two games, and having an 18-17 record.

TomTuttle on
May 14th, 2009 2:19 pm

This team right now has 13 players (if you include Silva) on the major league roster left over from the players who helped define the “Bavasi Era”.

Silva, Lopez, Morrow, Betancourt, Johjima, Beltre, Bedard, Washburn, Batista and Lowe need to either be cut or traded NOW while there’s still a chance to do so.

KaminaAyato on
May 14th, 2009 2:36 pm

Silva, Lopez, Morrow, Betancourt, Johjima, Beltre, Bedard, Washburn, Batista and Lowe need to either be cut or traded NOW while thereâ€™s still a chance to do so.

No one’s going to get cut by Dr Z unless he absolutely cannot find value for them. Realistically, right now only Washburn has high trade value. Batista is improving his value each day. Bedard’s value was increasing until this recent setback.

Silva, Johjima, Beltre, Betancourt and Morrow would probably be at their low trade value and it wouldn’t be worth it to do any transactions right now.

If you’re so concerned with trading players, I think the Putz trade highlights Dr Z’s ability to get the maximum value for the players on this team. So in that sense, I am optimistic to see what he does later.

Blowing up the team is fine, but do it with purpose, not out of pure anger and frustration (and believe me, I’m not happy either).

TomTuttle on
May 14th, 2009 2:40 pm

Then get rid of them all by the end of the year.

If I can’t have this team be competitive in ’09, I at least want to have something to look forward to in ’10.

Catherwood on
May 14th, 2009 2:52 pm

Geez, Tom. Let’s not get carried away. This team was always slated to be an about-500 team, and right now it’s 3 games under .500. When Cordero comes back, we’ll have either him or Aardsma to close and the other to setup, and it’ll be okay. Not great, but okay.

KaminaAyato is right: probably the only players tradeable right now are Wash and Bedard, assuming Bedard’s injury is minor and he only misses one start. And for whom would we trade them? Who’s out there who’s going to make us oh so much better? I’m not expert enough to say it can’t be done, but that’s certainly my impression.

tomas on
May 14th, 2009 3:20 pm

we’ve already used ‘Backbreaker,’ ‘Acid in the Wounds’ and ‘Time to Panic?’

i suggest the next one should be titled ‘Can You Say Horror Show?’

jorn on
May 14th, 2009 3:42 pm

so since Texas seems to be positively overflowing with offense and their pitching is probably over-performing right now, would they be in the market for a Washburn/Bedard? They’re getting a taste for the division lead and might be willing to make some moves to preserve their position.

hell, let’s give ’em the both of them for Elvis Andrus (fat chance, i know).

Diehard on
May 14th, 2009 3:56 pm

It has been a horror show starting with the Texas series at home until now.

joser on
May 14th, 2009 4:44 pm

weâ€™ve already used â€˜Backbreaker,â€™ â€˜Acid in the Woundsâ€™ and â€˜Time to Panic?â€™

Seems like song titles to me. Pat Benatar sings “Backbreaker,” (“Heartbreaker”) Kanas sings “Acid in the Wounds” (“Dust in the Wind”), and Green Day sings “Time to Panic” (“Panic Song” — speaking of which, does anything more need be said?)

I’d say the next logical step would be Dylan’s “Everybody Must Get Stoned Traded”

scott19 on
May 14th, 2009 7:15 pm

While we’re at it, we might as well add the Little River Band’s “Lonesome Loser” to the list — since, at this rate, these guys will probably be drawing about 6-8k by September.

GTownHoyas on
May 14th, 2009 8:00 pm

yeah, “lose today and the season is basically over.” because 127 games is way too short of a time to make up 5.5 games.

joser on
May 14th, 2009 8:15 pm

yeah, â€œlose today and the season is basically over.â€ because 127 games is way too short of a time to make up 5.5 games.

If the teams you’re trying to catch are significantly better, it certainly can be.

And look at that: Ervin Santana came back from the DL and got his first start for the Angels today. Nothing stellar — 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K — but they still beat Boston, and he’s only going to get better. And so are the Angels.

SequimRealEstate on
May 14th, 2009 8:55 pm

1 win 9 losses. Last 10 games Ouch!!!

tmac9311 on
May 14th, 2009 8:57 pm

and lackey tomorrow, yes there are 127 games left, but you expect this mariners team to be better than the at full power Angels for the rest of the season? 6 games better at that? That like hoping for Elvis Andrus to be traded to us for Batista and Yuni.

GTownHoyas on
May 15th, 2009 7:35 am

The Angels may be better. 127 games is a ton though. Saying the season is over when you have that many games left is ridiculous. By no means is the season over. There is so much that could happen in that time, the M’catching up six games is not some far-out idea.